Texas' David Pierce named Baseball America coach of the year

Texas coach David Pierce celebrates the NCAA regional win over Indiana on Sunday.

Texas coach David Pierce celebrates the NCAA regional win over Indiana on Sunday.

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Texas coach David Pierce celebrates the NCAA regional win over Indiana on Sunday.

Texas coach David Pierce celebrates the NCAA regional win over Indiana on Sunday.

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

Texas' David Pierce named Baseball America coach of the year

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AUSTIN – Texas coach David Pierce on Tuesday was named Baseball America's 2018 college coach of the year.

In his second season, Pierce steered UT to its first Big 12 title since 2011 and first trip to the College World Series since 2014.

Under Pierce, who was also named Big 12 coach of the Year, Texas hosted both a regional and super regional at Disch-Falk Field for the first time since 2011.

The Longhorns dropped Game 1 of the super regional to Tennessee Tech, but rebounded to take the next two and advance to the CWS for a record 36th time. Though Texas was swiftly eliminated after falling to Arkansas and Florida, Pierce lauded his team for vastly exceeding preseason expectations.

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"There's nobody in this room and nobody in this country expected this team to be here," Pierce said on June 19. "And they did a heck of a job from the start to finish, from the fall ball into early spring. The things that they had to accomplish to get here is incredible.

"And I can only say how proud we are as coaches and the effort that they gave us and the way they represented the University of Texas."

Texas has gone 81-47 in two seasons under Pierce, and despite losing slugger Kody Clemens and a slew of pitchers, it has its sight set on another astonishing run to Omaha in 2019.

"When you get a taste of this, it makes you hungry," Pierce said. "And what we'll talk about here shortly is understand your own strengths, understand your own weaknesses and what do you have to do, first of all, to make the team next year. Secondly, what do you have to do to be a role player, an everyday player?

"And this motivates you and this builds a culture of expectation from our program. And that's the beauty of it. Their accomplishments were great, but what they've done for Texas athletics and Texas baseball is tremendous."